You name is entered already the first two students have exemplar layouts to give you an idea of how the reflections and responses might look. REMEMBER: A. Select any two presentations other than your own and answer the question below (you are not evaluating the presentation - you have already done that in your peer reflections, you are instead thinking about what the presentation stimulated in your thinking) B. Respond to three of your peers' reflections.
In your part A address:
'How the presentation deepened your understanding, raised your awareness or aroused your interest in issues related to your role as an ELT inside the educational system of Hong Kong'?
1.Chan Ching Yi (i).Reflection generated from content shared in Group 3 's Postmethod. It is a new method to me as teachers are not constrained by any methods in ELT, such as communicative approach or task-based appraoch. It would be more applicable for students in diverse abilities as different students may need different ways of learning. In this case, teachers can choose the best ways to teach their students by combining different ways of teaching, e.g. by combining TBL with some vocabulary drilling. Therefore, it would be more practical for teachers to match with the curriculum and required assessments.
Response from 09401482 (Dickson) I share the same feeling. Although Postmethod is new to me, it is a great way to meet students' needs and diversities. We can combine different teaching approaches in order to facilitate student's learning. ............................................................................................................................
(ii). Reflection generated from content shared in Group 5 's Teacher Autonomy in Language Education. In the presentation, the group share a lot of their own experiences from their schools. From one of their sharing, one classmate said that in his working school, there is an exchange programme so that students from America will study with the students in Hong Kong. In this case, the lower form students have better English standard compared with the students of higher form. I was really impressed by the real case as students' interest and motivation in learning English always affect their ability to learn. In my working school, most of the students do not have motiviation to learn English, it would be one of my biggest problem to deal with the situation.
Response from 10401237 (Edmund) I was impressed too for such a passionate principal who was an English teacher. There should be more ex-English-teacher principals!
Response from 09401482 (Dickson) I believe that teachers should always be enthusiastic and highly motivated. We'd better not just follow the scheme of work and try to create more space for our students. If students feel our enthusiasm, they will even work harder.
Response from 10401520 (Sheera) It is true that students the best learning outcomes always start from self-learning instead of spoon-feeding. I have shared this story to my panel head and she was impressed by it too. My school offers similar programme but it is in smaller scale and we hope we could expand the program more extensively in the future as this is definitely a win-win situation to both teachers and students.
Response from 10401210: The example demonstrates that a lot of the top-down decisions have a big impact on the language learning environment. The students can be much more open to learning English when they're not in English class. Response from 10404090 Although my school do not offer similar programme to the students, we (English teachers) do have freedom to create our own tailor- made teaching materials. I found that students are more willing to learn English when I use my own teaching materials to teach. Let the students enjoy their English lessons is my ultimate goal! Response from 10406026 (Wing) It is really nice to have such a considerate big boss at your school, who has plentiful experience in teaching English and he really understands the difficulties of both teachers and students in teaching and learning. I did come across a boss who tends to pick the faults of teachers in teaching, especially English and projects students'' misbahaviour during lesson as solely the management disability of the teachers. See, how lucky you are! ............................................................................................................................
(i).Reflection generated from content shared in Group 1 's Major approaches to ELT ............................................................................................................................ Response from 10401296 I totally agree ...............
(ii). Reflection generated from content shared in Group 3 's Major approaches to ELT ............................................................................................................................
Response from 09401490 I wish I had thought of this idea because I found myself in a similar situation in my school.......... ...............
3.Chan Ka Man Mandy
i).Reflection generated from content shared in Group 3 's PostmethodThe content consists of quite a number of macrostrategies and the number 5 Foster Language Awareness catches my attention. Many students use their own language in the English lesson because it is an entirely natural thing to do, this is a habit that will happen in most cases without encouragement from teacher. The presenter of group 3 suggests how we as a teacher foster English- language environment for our students. It can be done by drawing learners’ attention to the formal properties of L2 deliberately and making the lesson learner-oriented. Response from 10405321 you raise a point that many students use their own language in the English lesson. In my school, most students communicate in Cantonese or even Putonghua during English lesson. Positive reinforcement could be used to encourage students to speak in English. I observed that students reluctant to speak in English because they lack of confident. It takes time to build up an English-language environment and we should make use of our every effort to achieve it. Response from 10406018 I encounter the same problem as you do, especially when I allow my students to do group discussion in class. They are on-task, however, they are using Cantonese instead of English. I find it hard to encourage them to use English especially when they are talking to their peers. Therefore, I think there should be situations where we as teachers can encourage them to use more English, for example asking students to do presentation. Responses from 10401296 I agree that it is really common for low ability students to speak Cantonese in English lessons. Sometimes, I also feel very frustrated about this. But, after reading these comments, I think there is still hope that teachers can encourage students to build up a postive attitude towards English. I prefer the postive reinforcement to the punishment. It is hoped that students are not afraid of English and still have interest in the future if they like. Response from 10406026 Still remember the demonstration of Dr. Anita Poon to teach beginners who have no prior knowledge of French to learn French during the lecture. I think it is still a direction to teach students English with English while mother tongue language takes the role of assistance only.
i).Reflection generated from content shared in Group 4 's Learner Autonomy
I find the content of Leaner Autonomy useful as my students are inactive learners and their learning capability and language proficiencies are far from satisfactory. In English lesson, some students are apparently unwilling to use English in English lessons, and undoubtedly, this issue always drives me, as well as other English teachers wild. If students do not use English in English lessons, English teachers are wasting their efforts and their students are wasting their time as well. The powerpoint’s content gives sound solution for my situation by suggestion three elements, namely communication through language, learning process and students’ personal life.
5. Cheung Lai Ling Echo
(i) Reflection generated from content shared in Group 5 's Teacher Autonomy in Language Education. As English teachers, I think we all want our students to learn better English, to enjoy learning English, to have better academic results and there are many more wants but we know that the reality is there, with a lot of constraints as mentioned in the presentation. I share similar feelings with some of you that what we can do is quite limited sometimes. Although there might be frustration when seeing students falling asleep in classes or seeing their confused faces, I still believe that as long as we still have the passion to teach, there is something that we can do for them. There is one inspiring question raised by the group – When to let go, when to control? In my school, there are drama lessons for junior form students which are taught by English teachers. I am lucky that I have quite a lot of freedom in designing the materials and activities for my own drama lessons, so that students can do their work with creativity. Most of them enjoy the lessons and are able to produce satisfactory work. I must admit that those are extra work to do and it is not easy for us when we have piles of work to mark but I could say I enjoy teaching drama lessons the most, so as the students do. After teaching for three years, I am still learning how to teach. I think we can do bits by bits to arouse students’ interests in learning and that not only our students can benefit from it but both of us as learners do.
(ii) Reflection generated from content shared in Group 3 's Postmethod The term ‘postmethod’ is quite new to me. Generally, I think it is a flexible approach under the dynamic teaching and learning environment, especially when many people are talking about catering for learner diversity now. There is never a methodology that can fit all students at all time and I believe the postmethod worths trying as the teachers can make choice of what are best for their students. However, there is an important point to note before we bring it into practice, that is we need to be more autonomous and reflective so that the macrostrategy is the most beneficial to our students.
6. Choy Wai Yan Vivien
Reflection generated from content shared in Group 3 's Postmethod. This is a truly inspiring presentation as it introduces to us a whole new approach of ELT (though most teachers have already been using it without being awared of it). I think postmethod can said to be an easy ELT approach to use as it is merely a mixture of different strategies of ELT. However, I think this can sometimes be a very difficult one as teachers need to have in depth understanding of their students before they can tailor-made a set of mixed strategies to cater for students' diverse needs. Therefore, I think postmethod is not a simple thing, it requires teachers' understanding of both students and the curriculum and a well-organized design in order to make the teaching succeed.
Reflection generated from content shared in Group 5's Teacher Autonomy. Before becoming a teacher, I would think that there are lots of things I could do to help my future students to learn better, and there are lots of things I could do as their teacher. However, in reality, when I step into a real school, a real classroom, it is a totally different situation. As mentioned in the presentation, there are lots of contraints. For me, most of my S5 students do not like English, they think that it is very difficult, and they lack the motivation to improve despite of knowing the fact that they need to get at least Level 3 in order to get into university.I would very much like to do something interesting with them during the lesson, however I found that time is really limited with all the exam practice papers piling up. So, now I am still finding my way through developing my autonomy as a teacher, trying to strike a balance. Response from 10401571 I encounter the same problem as you do, as I am an English teacher of S5 students as well. I spend most of my time on those so called practice paper with them and afterwards, I always ask myself 'have they learnt anything indeed?' . I know whenever I have such skepticism in my mind, I know I am not doing something that I have 100% confidence that is beneficial to my students. Do you feel the same too? Response from 10401296 I am not a F5 teacher but I agree that time is very limited and doing something interesting in order to arouse their interest is time-consuming. Even though I am just a junior form teacher, there is also a lot pressure when I compare my class' results with other classes'. Striking a balance between these two is really a good method (although I think it is difficult for a new teacher to do it). I believe that practice makes perfect and learning from experience and mistakes. Let's do it together! Response from 09401490 Sammy I also admit that using the mixed-teaching pedagogies in our lessons is not easy because it requires a deep understanding of the English proficiency of students in order to tailor-made our own teaching strategy. Response from 10401199 Echo I think we all share the same feeling that not only our students are under great pressure because of the public exams but also we teachers do. However, I am quite happy to see here we still have some passionate teachers that want to make a change for our students! I remember your idea of asking students to write in a log book, I think it is a great practice. Yes, we cannot always have interesting things in lessons due to time constraints but I think this kind of care in the chats can also arouse students’ learning interests too! Response from 10406026 Wing You stressed "own a language" frequently during presentaation, which is the most impressive moto for me. Under the circumstance of exam-orientation, it is a pity that most of my students do not understand the belief of "own" and they are at the stage of struggling for marks bit by bit. Starting from that presentation, I would motivate myself to cultivate my students to attempt in owning English, as my belief as well.
7. Hung Po Yan Alyssa
Reflection generated from content shared in Group 2's Major approaches to ELT. I used to have a negative feeling about TBL approach as it is time-consuming to prepare extra teaching materials for each lesson. After realized that there is no single best method, approach or style to teach, I tried to implement TBL approach in my junior class. I was glad that my students expressed positive attitudes about such new learning experience. This encourage me to implement TBL approach in my future English classes. Response from 10401199 Echo I think the idea of TBL is good in a sense that we provide students theme-based and contextualized materials to make learning meaningful. Last month, my students had done a TBL project about food and they enjoyed it very much. I believe the negative feeling about this approach is from the time constraint which we have very limited power to change it.
Reflection generated from content shared in Group 4's Learner Autonomy. It is very difficult to develop students' ability to take control over their own learning since they have little motivation to learn English. As a teacher, I have tried everything I could do to help them. However, the result is negative. To develop students autonomy in learning is time-consuming, I will continue to motivate my students by using different teaching approaches and inculcate them that English Language is an interesting subject to learn and they may find it useful one day. I believe that once students are motivated, they will be more willing to learn the language.(reduce the antagonistic feelings towards learning English) -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.Kwok Chee Ying Henry
i).Reflection generated from content shared in Group 3 's Postmethod
I didn’t know about Postmethod before their presentation. After their presentation, I found it a useful method as it can combine the advantages of various teaching methods. Although it is not an easy method to be adopted, I will try this method to teach my students in the near future.
Response from 10401253 I experience same. I have never heard of postmethod before and it gives a me kick-start on how to incorporate different strategies into the one I am confidence to use in my lesson. Response from 10401296 I am really happy to hear that you like the postmethod. Actually, I felt really confused about this topic at the beginning. However, after a period of time, I found that it is really useful and cheers up me because I am told that I do not need to fit myself for any approach or method. I am who I am and different teachers have their own personalities and strength. I believe that we are able and have potentials to develop our own teaching style.
i).Reflection generated from content shared in Group 4 's Learner Autonomy
I believe that lack of motivation is the biggest barriers to achieve learner’s autonomy. I teach in a band-three school. Students come to school without purpose, some of them even frequently absent from school for part-time job. Under this situation, it is difficult for me to achieve the autonomy in language learning because language takes time to drill.
Response from 10401245 I had similar experience with you before. For band three it's really really hard to motivate students as they are completely distracted by other problems. Well, take it easy, just try to see and consider learning from their point of view. There's no way to adopt band 1 teaching strategy on them, maybe just teach the things that maybe practical and usable to them, at least, let them have some interesting and achievable activities in lessons. Response from 10405321 I am also teaching in a band-three school. I totally agree with you that "lack of motivation" is the biggest barriers to achieve learner's autonomy. One of my students mentioned that "Pocket Money" was the reason for him to come to school. His mother won't give him any pocket money if he refuses to go to school. Most of my students are lack of motivation to learn, or even never consider the purpose of their lives. My job is to stimulate them to think and bring them to the right track. Response from 10401571 You have raised a question that some students come to school without motivation and purpose. Will you consider to teach them some jobs related sentence patterns or vocabulary in order to raise their interests? I think it would be helpful in some way if they find our the linkage between their daily life and English language. I hope my suggestion helps! Response from 10404090 Teaching in a Band 3 school is totally a challenge. Students don't seem to have any any motivation to learn the language. Some of my students are from China, and they always argued that they could easily find a job in their home cities without having a high level of English standard. In such situation, it's definately difficult to achieve learners' autonomy.
9. Lam Yan Yin Felix
i).Reflection generated from content shared in Group 3 's Postmethod
Upon reflection, this eclectic approach certainly works. In practice, the teacher would have to be highly aware, and exert extra effort in customizing every thing, from materials to method to contextualization. This is especially important when considering a whole curriculum, or semester, instead of lesson by lesson. Hopefully, the students appreciate all our efforts.
i).Reflection generated from content shared in Group 4 's Learner Autonomy
I share this goal to train students into autonomous learners. The biggest obstacle for me remains their motivation. I feel a deep-rooted notion that they are only in school because they have no choice. Their goal, it seems, is to avoid doing anything until they are allowed to leave school, at which time they will be motivated, but to play.
Response from 10401237 (Edmund) I like your idea of considering the whole curriculum. However, in reality, we can just manage, at most, a few lessons ahead unless we have been teaching the same materials for a few years. I share your goal to get students into autonomous learners. I think this should be the ultimate goal for all teachers ..........
Response from 10401474 I agree with you that applying Postmethod in teaching is not an easy task. Teacher plays an important role throughout the process. Apart from that, cooperations from students are also essential.
Response from 10401245 I agree with you that the biggest obstacle we face is that students' motivation is really low today. Maybe because of their family background or the society's demand has changed. Anyway, some people have said that as a teacher our main target is to teach the average students. The bright kids will do well anyway whereas the worst ones will keep to be the bottom ones. However, the average kids are the ones who really need us as they have the potential to get promoted to a higher place or even going down without our help. Of course, we can't gurantee to help everyone to get straight As, we are just trying to pull the students, especially the majority average ones from behind. Maybe that will make us feel a little better?! =.=
Response from 10401253 Same here, my studets are super inactive in learning but super active in playing! I hope to build up my students' learning autonomy bit by bit through in-class activities and group works which give them abundant freedom to gear themselves to learn what interests them.
Response from 10404090 I agree with you as well. Since I'm teaching in a Band 3 school, most of my students hate learning English and their learning motivation is extremely low. So, what I'm trying to do in my lessons are to use actractive powerpoint slides (although its time-consuming to create the slides), group works and also authentic teaching materials (suits students' needs and interests) to teach the language. So far, I found that such methods do work for my SEN students.
10. Lau Tik Sang Dickson
i.) Reflection generated from content shared in Group 2 's Major approaches to ELT.
TBL can be very interesting for junior forms. Students can learn and apply English other than the traditional direct teaching ways. I've tried TBL in my junior classes. Students are generally motivated as they think the topics are interesting. They can do something that really related to their daily lives. However, it is a bit time-consuming as we have to finish all the teaching under the scheme of work.
ii.) Reflection generated from content shared in Group 4 's Learner Autonomy
I always believe a responsible teacher should not only teach and refer to the textbooks. We should try our best to encourage our students to learn and study by themselves. Being a teacher, we should set a good example for our students. We should be willing to learn and update our knowledge. Moreover, it's essential to reinforce our students during the teaching process. It's an effective way for us to motivate them. Once they are motivated, they may even do more in order to fulfil their strong desire. Response from 10401199 Echo I totally agree with your point that teaching is beyond textbooks. It is not difficult to find from the news that students with good academic results cannot survive in the realistic society. Similarly, in English language teaching, a student can remember all the vocabulary in the textbooks does not mean he or she can use the words or even master the language. Therefore, it is important for teachers to encourage students to learn and use the language inside and outside classrooms.
11.Lee Chi Leung Edmund
i).Reflection generated from content shared in Group 3 's Postmethod
Postmethod is a cocktail approach to address what content delivers in what way in order to meet the needs of different learners. The idea is simple, but yet requires great effort and experience from passionate teachers. Two papers that I read earlier echo with it completely. There is never a one-size-fit-all solution for second language learning and teaching. In fact, the recent development on language teaching is not on using a particular method or approach but a choice in choosing the right combination of methods and approaches for particular learner’s need. Postmethod, I definitely am in. I will try with all the marcostrategies in my teaching from now on.
i).Reflection generated from content shared in Group 4 's Learner Autonomy
I believe the most important element of education is on inspiring our young people to ‘think’. The ultimate thinking young people should consider is about the purpose of their lives. My responsibility is to encourage young people to seek their own life purposes. Lack of life purpose is lack of motivation for seeking knowledge-processing skills. That may be the key reason why there are so many poor academic performances at school. Students have no drive on learning especially on the seemingly-seldomly-used English Language. Poor literacy means poor verbal reasoning and poor critical thinking skills. Without those, students will then make the wrong decisions in life. Therefore, as a teacher, my role is to 'wake them up' and lead them into autonomous learners. My mission is to foster students’ appreciation on the fun of learning. My focus with my students will be mainly on activiating their self-regulated learning and, eventually, into self-directed learning so that they can decide on what they would like to learn on their own.
Response from 10401474 I agree with you that as a role of teacher, we need to inspire students to think critically, motivate them to learn and explore to different kinds of knowledge. From now on, I will encourage students to spend some time i.e. 5 minutes, to have a self reflection in my lesson. Response from 10401245 I agree with you that we have to motivate students' self-learning, which is our ultimate task in class. But I have to make a confession that sometimes I will forget these high missions and lower my head in front of the scheme of work. I teach form 5 students, you know, I can't really let them 'go' without any training on the four papers.....sigh, reality and mission, we need to fight for a balance. Response from 10405321 I agree with you that inspiring young people to "think" is the most important element of education. We should be ashamed, if students don't know their own life purposes after secondary school graduation. Most of my students come from low-income group with low self-esteem. Some even label themselves as 'a group of negligent'. We should try our best to encourage and guide them to find their purpose of their lives. Response from 10401210: "Thinking" is perhaps the mot important outcome of learning. After all, no matter how much they memorize, without a "brain", the information itself is useless.
12.Lee Sze Ling Sheera
i) Reflection generated from content shared in Group 5 's Teacher Autonomy in Language Education. I am impressed by the sharing of one of the schoolmates where the school offers an exchange programme with students from American students. I think it is a very valuable opportunity for students to apply English in their real lives. Moreover, the out-of-classroom setting encourages Hong Kong students to feel less afraid in using English. My school has similar programme every year but it is carried out in a smaller scale. I could see that most of the students will often try their best to communicate despite of low ability as they enjoy speaking things that are related to themselves instead of solely completing exercises at class. I think the effect is more obvious when comparing to 100% classroom teaching.
ii)Reflection generated from content shared in Group 2 's Major approaches to ELT. I personally enjoy applying TBL in my classroom especially for my junior form classess because it is a new and fun experience for students. It can be seen that most of my students were willing to communicate in English more after implementing this approach in my classroom. However, it sometimes take more time than expected as students progress varies. Also, I have to make sure that I have covered the items required by the scheme of work at the same time. I think it is important for me to try using different approaches in my teaching so as to bring out the best teaching and learning experience to both parties.
13. Luk Ka Lai
Reflection on Group 2 & 3’s presentation (from 10405240)
Group 2’s presentation helps me know more how students and teachers think about TBL and what difficulties it may bring about when it is implemented. Although there are some limitation when implementing TBL such as large class size, low learning motivation, exam-oriented culture and etc, I still think that as a teaching methodology, TBL and CLT’s effectiveness in teaching and learning can be maximized by suitable adaptation and modification according to the student’s ability and diversity.
Response from 09401482 (Dickson) I've tried to use TBL in junior forms. Students are relatively motivated because of the interesting topics of the task. Moreover, teachers can have more room to prepare more useful materials for the students. However, it can be quite time-consuming.
Group 3’s post-method a methodology of flexibility. It encourages teachers not to be constrained by any single method. As a reflective teacher, it is crucial for one to always reflect on their own teaching and students’ learning and be prepared to use any method that is most effective and modify their teaching in different contexts.
Response to Angel, It is important for a teacher to have freedom and control over their teaching so that they can modify their teaching material, schedule and methodology according to the students' needs. Response to Edmund,
I agree that there's never a "one-size-fit-all" methodology for teaching, so it is always possible to combine different approaches in order to cater for learner diversity.
Response to Felix,
I agree that some of the students are keen on playing but not learning. So, the biggest challenge for teachers is to design some activities that allow them to learn English in an interesting and most importantly, effective way.
14. Ng Hiu Kwan
i).Reflection generated from content shared in Group 4 's Learner Autonomy, I believe teachers still have certain degree of autonomy even it seems that we are bound by many limitations from all sorts of power groups. The concept of autonomy is essential to us as we are the frontlines who understand our students most. We know what they need and students' abilities and therefore we should be able to have a say in what we teach them! Regardless of a tight scheme of work, politcial conflicts in the panel and a packed curriculum, I believe there's still a room for us to decide the way we teach. Well, after all, the success of our job does not depend on how efficient we finish our scheme of work but whether we can motivate our students to be interested in learning the subject we teach....that's a BIG challenge!! =_=
Response from 10401253 I agree with you. I am supposed the one who knows my students' ability and language proficiency most. Like you, I hope I can try my best to squeeze time and resources to teach what is good to my students.
Response from 10401571 I totally agree with you. That's why I said the most important thing isn't challenging our existing English curriculum, but try our best to keep their motivation and passion in English. If their motivation burns out, we can do nothing. So we have to try our best by using all methods to keep their passion burning! Response from 10401474 Being frontlines is not an easy task. And I am with you that there are many big challenges as you mentioned above. For example, we have to ask students with low motivation to learn with lots of love, concern and patience. It really takes much of our time, effort and energy. Let's strive for the best~
i).Reflection generated from content shared in Group 3 's Postmethod, to me, bascially, postmethod means we teachers have to break down ALL our teaching predagogies in order to build up our own teaching style and philosophy. The PowerPoint reminds me of our schoo's staff development day today. The speaker told us that there is NO particular way to cater learner diversity in classroom. All methods can achieve this purpose, e.g. class size, grouping, feedback, streaming, etc., but the point is are we using the correct method at a correct timing to a correct student. This is exactly what postmethod is about. We have to be flexible in classroom and always ready to adopt new method and changes regardless of failures. I heard a famous quote today which is really inspiring and related to this presentation topic, "If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn." In other words, there is no absolute rule and framework in teaching, we have to apply all the theories we have learnt and try them in class. Don't be rigid and there is NO absolute teaching pedagogy in a class! -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
15. Tam Ming Sum Sammy
Reflection generated from content shared in Group 2’s Major approaches to ELT-suitability of TBL in the Hong Kong’s School Contexts. TBL seems to be an effective in ELT but it is opened to be questioned if we discuss the suitability in Hong Kong. This group did demonstrate various constraints on implementing TBL in Hong Kong classroom because of the exam-oriented culture. It is feasible to implement TBL in all Hong Kong English language classroom only if the curriculum and exam-oriented are modified. On top of the exam-oriented culture, I believed that the overreliance on using the textbook to teach is another constraint for English teachers to implement TBL. However, school administrators and parents feel secure and comfortable only if the textbooks are listed on the school book list. The overreliance on using the publishers’ materials does not provide a high authenticity in using and learning the language which is also the deep-rooted problem in Hong Kong context.
Response from 10401210: It is interesting that you bring up the textbooks. It seems many teachers find the textbooks not very useful. but I've also had students tell me they don't like the textbooks. Some of them don't even bring it to class.
Reflection generated from content shared in Group 3 's Postmethod.
I have a positive attitude towards the Postmethod in ELT because there is no one single method to teach English effectively. Therefore, we should incorporate various methods in our lesson so that it can be more interesting. The requirement of mechanical training on public exam is an undeniable fact but we can adapt and adjust our teaching styles so that we can make our lessons to be more interactive in a meaningful context.
16. Tsang Man Yin Angel
i).Reflection generated from content shared in Group 5 's Learner and Teacher Autonomy in Language Education. One of the presenters mentioned that we should bypass all the constraints in order to promote teacher autonomy. We may need to have freedom from control over our teaching. I am teaching in a band-three school. Luckily, the goal of my school is not focusing on public examination results instead students' self-discipline and development are of the utmost importance. I have the freedom from control over my teaching after I have finished the required scheme of work. I can make use of teacher autonomy to design my lessons. As the majority of the students are come from low-income group with many behaviour problems, I will infiltrate moral education during the English Language lesson. I hope that they will become a responsibile person in the future. Response from 10406018 This is a very good thing to do. I believe your students will benefit a lot from your lessons! It is true that when we as teachers know that some students are not able to make it to university (I am not saying that they are bad, but we all know by heart the percentage of students getting into university every year, right?), we should help them to stretch their potential, to prepare them as a capable person in going into different ways after they graduate from their secondary education. Response from 10406026 (Wing) It is an ideal interaction environment if both teachers and students enjoy autonomy in language education. A sharing with a assistant professor in a university: He complained that he had to pacify the students in some extent since students' evaluation at the end of the semester determines if his teaching contract would be extended to next academic year. He reflected that another professor whose style is rather '"commander" since he has had long working experience in an uniform bridage in civil service sector ended up being commented as unfriendly and so he could not secure his teaching post in the university. Evaluation by students is a common practice in the field education and it is an output of students' autonomy, but it in certain extent challenges the teaching methodology adoopted by teachers. Thus, student autonomy does have 2 sides.
ii) Reflection generated from content shared in Group 3's postmethod, it consists of 10 macrostrategies, based on which teachers can design varied and situation-specific microstrategies to effect desired learning outcomes. It signifies a search for an alternative to method rather than an alternative method. In my opinion, no matter whether we are using "postmethod' or any other method in our teaching, understanding our learners and build up good teacher-student relationship are of the utmost importance. There was a case in my school that a class of Secondary 4 students boycotted a Chinese Language teacher and refused to attend the class because of the bad teacher-student relationship.
17. Tse Pui Yan Penny
i) Reflection generated from content shared in Group 4 's Autonomy in Language Learning. I believe no one would deny that those students who have higher autonomy and motivation in English language learning would do better. After this presentation, I am inspired in several ways. Firstly, the most important thing is not challenging the current English syllabus using in Hong Kong. Indeed, if the learners themselves do have a positive view or value towards English language (i.e. they believe it is highly useful and important in their lifetime, or else), they can still find a lot of interest in their learning under such curriculum. When someone is able to find interest or passion in doing something (having a high intrinsic value), he or she will definitely be highly autonomous in learning the language, regardless of the curriculum and the assessments. Therefore, how to make our students believe that English language is closely related to their daily lives as well as their future career is of utmost important. We should always give them chances to put what they have learnt into real practice.
ii)Reflection generated from content shared in Group 2 's Major approaches to ELT Personally I welcome the implementation of TBL in ELT. However, due to the constrain of time, I cannot afford to spend all my lessons on TBL. Still, I would still strive a balance between TBL and other traditional approaches to ELT. I believe that no single approach is perfect and as a teacher I utilize different approaches in my teaching, as long as they are suitable for my students. TBL can raise students' interest in language learning as this is a brand new experience for them and they have the chance to learn something outside their textbooks. Therefore, I will still implement TBL in my teaching as far as I can.
Response from 09401490 Sammy I have tried to implement TBL in my junior form class as the flexibility is high in the English Panel. However, so much time was used for the pre-task activities and the interesting level isn't high indeed. Perhaps, I'm green in using TBL so that I don't have a concrete method to raise the interesting level of the lessons. Anyway, I will try to use this pedagogy in my lessons.
Response from 10401520 Sheera I have taught both junior and senior classes and I think it is more suitable to implement TBL in junior forms rather than senior forms as students at junior forms tend to have lower motivation in learning English. TBL is thus a very good approach to make them engage more at class and arouse their interest in this language that they are afraid of. Moreover, junior forms teachers usually possess higher flexibility in designing their own lessons and they face less pressure in preparing for the public examination so I think it's one of the approaches that my students and I enjoy. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
18.Wong Wing Ka
Reflection generated from content shared in Group 4 and 5 in Language learning
I had an interesting shraing with one of my colleagues lately. We shared how we taught relative clause for form 2 students. My colleages advised me to formularize the steps of applying relative pronoun, i.e. which/ who/ whose, to link 2 sentences. For example, Step 1) Find out the common information of 2 sentences; Step 2) Distinguish the nature of the common information. If it is an object, use "which", if it is a person, use "who"... . After listening to my colleague, I queried if my students would be like a robot and they ended up with no language sense if they learnt English in formulars. The colleague replied "What if they can get no mark at all but they do have a bit language sense? Language sense does not help their test at all." Finally I found that my colleague does strive for putting their students in exam-oriented culture and I did teach my students with the steps that he introduced to me but not that formular in nature.
This inspires me that sometimes students do not understand what language sense is and they prefer marks to enjoying the process of learning.
I would suggest learning autonomy to those students who have ability to manage learning themselves and at least they should attain certain English standard. For students who do not even manage grammar rules, the simpliest like agreement, they prone to strive to get themselves promoted to next year, which is known as the minimum requirement for them, instead of encouraging them to figure out some ways which allow them to learn English comfortably.
reflection generated from content shared in Group 1 in major approaches to ELT.
I would suggest to maxmize the benefits derived from TBL in some education outdoor activities, like museum visit, in which students can move and learn at the same time. Teacher does not have to explain much before the learning activity and the students frame themselves into the learning environment where there are authentic materials automatically. When students learn English by TBL in the classroom, they would rather focus on the supposed classroom activities or exercises and the TBL atmosphere despite deliberately tailor-made by the teacher may not be strong enough to guide them to devote in learning English via TBL.
19. Yau Wai Po Ivory
Reflection generated from content shared in Group 4's Autonomy in Language Learning
I got two inspirations from the presentation. The first one is that learners' autonomy is as important as teachers' autonomy. In the past, I always looked down on students' autonmy. But, actually, their homework and content of learning are assigned and decided by teachers and they do not have any freedom and choices. It is raelly hard for them to be motivated in this case. That is one of the reasons why they cannot become independent leaners. The second one is that everyday communication skill is also an important part of langauge teaching. Being a English teacher, I should not just focus on examination but try my best to spend more time on daily communication in English. That can help students a lot in the future.
Response from 10401237 (Edmund) I learnt from EDUC7150 - Critical and creative thinking that creative writing tasks allow students to make their own choice on projects and writing topic. This would raise their intrinsic motivation. I tried and it worked quite well even with the weaker students. Give it a try. Response from 10401520 Sheera I believe we teachers always want to make sure students have learnt what they need to learn and we are being bounded by this mind set. I agree that communication skills is very crucial in arousing students interest and motivation. I will always try to have more open discussions with my students at class before completing any tasks.
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Reflection generated from content shared in Group 2's Major approaches to ELT
Originally, before attending the presentation, I did not feel good about TBL because of its drawbacks (e.g. it is too time-consuming and it is hard to manage the whole classroom when there is discussion time). However, after the presentation, I think TBL may not be good for teachers but may be quite good for students. At least, stduents' interest can be aroused if the task is interesting enough. Also, it can train up their problem solving skill which is a key in daily life. So, perhaps, in the future, when I get more experience and feel more confident about myself, I will try to spend more time on TBL and hope that my students can benefit a lot from it!
Response from 09401490 Sammy The constraint on implementing TBL in Hong Kong classroom is under the factor of school curriculum and the use of textbook. Actually, both students and teachers feel secure if they have textbooks. Some parents may even force their children to prepare each lesson in advance so that the preparation work on teaching materials should be done earlier. However, the interesting level of the teaching materials may not be high because the adopted authentic materials may be outdated.
Reflections
You name is entered already the first two students have exemplar layouts to give you an idea of how the reflections and responses might look.REMEMBER:
A. Select any two presentations other than your own and answer the question below (you are not evaluating the presentation - you have already done that in your peer reflections, you are instead thinking about what the presentation stimulated in your thinking)
B. Respond to three of your peers' reflections.
In your part A address:
'How the presentation deepened your understanding, raised your awareness or aroused your interest in issues related to your role as an ELT inside the educational system of Hong Kong'?
1.Chan Ching Yi
(i).Reflection generated from content shared in Group 3 's Postmethod. It is a new method to me as teachers are not constrained by any methods in ELT, such as communicative approach or task-based appraoch. It would be more applicable for students in diverse abilities as different students may need different ways of learning. In this case, teachers can choose the best ways to teach their students by combining different ways of teaching, e.g. by combining TBL with some vocabulary drilling. Therefore, it would be more practical for teachers to match with the curriculum and required assessments.
Response from 09401482 (Dickson) I share the same feeling. Although Postmethod is new to me, it is a great way to meet students' needs and diversities. We can combine different teaching approaches in order to facilitate student's learning.
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(ii). Reflection generated from content shared in Group 5 's Teacher Autonomy in Language Education. In the presentation, the group share a lot of their own experiences from their schools. From one of their sharing, one classmate said that in his working school, there is an exchange programme so that students from America will study with the students in Hong Kong. In this case, the lower form students have better English standard compared with the students of higher form. I was really impressed by the real case as students' interest and motivation in learning English always affect their ability to learn. In my working school, most of the students do not have motiviation to learn English, it would be one of my biggest problem to deal with the situation.
Response from 10401237 (Edmund) I was impressed too for such a passionate principal who was an English teacher. There should be more ex-English-teacher principals!
Response from 09401482 (Dickson) I believe that teachers should always be enthusiastic and highly motivated. We'd better not just follow the scheme of work and try to create more space for our students. If students feel our enthusiasm, they will even work harder.
Response from 10401520 (Sheera) It is true that students the best learning outcomes always start from self-learning instead of spoon-feeding. I have shared this story to my panel head and she was impressed by it too. My school offers similar programme but it is in smaller scale and we hope we could expand the program more extensively in the future as this is definitely a win-win situation to both teachers and students.
Response from 10401210: The example demonstrates that a lot of the top-down decisions have a big impact on the language learning environment. The students can be much more open to learning English when they're not in English class.
Response from 10404090 Although my school do not offer similar programme to the students, we (English teachers) do have freedom to create our own tailor- made teaching materials. I found that students are more willing to learn English when I use my own teaching materials to teach. Let the students enjoy their English lessons is my ultimate goal!
Response from 10406026 (Wing) It is really nice to have such a considerate big boss at your school, who has plentiful experience in teaching English and he really understands the difficulties of both teachers and students in teaching and learning. I did come across a boss who tends to pick the faults of teachers in teaching, especially English and projects students'' misbahaviour during lesson as solely the management disability of the teachers. See, how lucky you are!
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2. Chan Hei Man
(i).Reflection generated from content shared in Group 1 's Major approaches to ELT
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Response from 10401296 I totally agree ...............
(ii). Reflection generated from content shared in Group 3 's Major approaches to ELT
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Response from 09401490 I wish I had thought of this idea because I found myself in a similar situation in my school.......... ...............
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3.Chan Ka Man Mandy
i).Reflection generated from content shared in Group 3 's PostmethodThe content consists of quite a number of macrostrategies and the number 5 Foster Language Awareness catches my attention. Many students use their own language in the English lesson because it is an entirely natural thing to do, this is a habit that will happen in most cases without encouragement from teacher. The presenter of group 3 suggests how we as a teacher foster English- language environment for our students. It can be done by drawing learners’ attention to the formal properties of L2 deliberately and making the lesson learner-oriented.
Response from 10405321 you raise a point that many students use their own language in the English lesson. In my school, most students communicate in Cantonese or even Putonghua during English lesson. Positive reinforcement could be used to encourage students to speak in English. I observed that students reluctant to speak in English because they lack of confident. It takes time to build up an English-language environment and we should make use of our every effort to achieve it.
Response from 10406018 I encounter the same problem as you do, especially when I allow my students to do group discussion in class. They are on-task, however, they are using Cantonese instead of English. I find it hard to encourage them to use English especially when they are talking to their peers. Therefore, I think there should be situations where we as teachers can encourage them to use more English, for example asking students to do presentation.
Responses from 10401296
I agree that it is really common for low ability students to speak Cantonese in English lessons. Sometimes, I also feel very frustrated about this. But, after reading these comments, I think there is still hope that teachers can encourage students to build up a postive attitude towards English. I prefer the postive reinforcement to the punishment. It is hoped that students are not afraid of English and still have interest in the future if they like.
Response from 10406026
Still remember the demonstration of Dr. Anita Poon to teach beginners who have no prior knowledge of French to learn French during the lecture. I think it is still a direction to teach students English with English while mother tongue language takes the role of assistance only.
i).Reflection generated from content shared in Group 4 's Learner Autonomy
I find the content of Leaner Autonomy useful as my students are inactive learners and their learning capability and language proficiencies are far from satisfactory. In English lesson, some students are apparently unwilling to use English in English lessons, and undoubtedly, this issue always drives me, as well as other English teachers wild. If students do not use English in English lessons, English teachers are wasting their efforts and their students are wasting their time as well. The powerpoint’s content gives sound solution for my situation by suggestion three elements, namely communication through language, learning process and students’ personal life.
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4. Chan Yee Man
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5. Cheung Lai Ling Echo
(i) Reflection generated from content shared in Group 5 's Teacher Autonomy in Language Education.
As English teachers, I think we all want our students to learn better English, to enjoy learning English, to have better academic results and there are many more wants but we know that the reality is there, with a lot of constraints as mentioned in the presentation. I share similar feelings with some of you that what we can do is quite limited sometimes. Although there might be frustration when seeing students falling asleep in classes or seeing their confused faces, I still believe that as long as we still have the passion to teach, there is something that we can do for them. There is one inspiring question raised by the group – When to let go, when to control? In my school, there are drama lessons for junior form students which are taught by English teachers. I am lucky that I have quite a lot of freedom in designing the materials and activities for my own drama lessons, so that students can do their work with creativity. Most of them enjoy the lessons and are able to produce satisfactory work. I must admit that those are extra work to do and it is not easy for us when we have piles of work to mark but I could say I enjoy teaching drama lessons the most, so as the students do. After teaching for three years, I am still learning how to teach. I think we can do bits by bits to arouse students’ interests in learning and that not only our students can benefit from it but both of us as learners do.
(ii) Reflection generated from content shared in Group 3 's Postmethod
The term ‘postmethod’ is quite new to me. Generally, I think it is a flexible approach under the dynamic teaching and learning environment, especially when many people are talking about catering for learner diversity now. There is never a methodology that can fit all students at all time and I believe the postmethod worths trying as the teachers can make choice of what are best for their students. However, there is an important point to note before we bring it into practice, that is we need to be more autonomous and reflective so that the macrostrategy is the most beneficial to our students.
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6. Choy Wai Yan Vivien
Reflection generated from content shared in Group 3 's Postmethod. This is a truly inspiring presentation as it introduces to us a whole new approach of ELT (though most teachers have already been using it without being awared of it). I think postmethod can said to be an easy ELT approach to use as it is merely a mixture of different strategies of ELT. However, I think this can sometimes be a very difficult one as teachers need to have in depth understanding of their students before they can tailor-made a set of mixed strategies to cater for students' diverse needs. Therefore, I think postmethod is not a simple thing, it requires teachers' understanding of both students and the curriculum and a well-organized design in order to make the teaching succeed.
Reflection generated from content shared in Group 5's Teacher Autonomy. Before becoming a teacher, I would think that there are lots of things I could do to help my future students to learn better, and there are lots of things I could do as their teacher. However, in reality, when I step into a real school, a real classroom, it is a totally different situation. As mentioned in the presentation, there are lots of contraints. For me, most of my S5 students do not like English, they think that it is very difficult, and they lack the motivation to improve despite of knowing the fact that they need to get at least Level 3 in order to get into university.I would very much like to do something interesting with them during the lesson, however I found that time is really limited with all the exam practice papers piling up. So, now I am still finding my way through developing my autonomy as a teacher, trying to strike a balance.
Response from 10401571 I encounter the same problem as you do, as I am an English teacher of S5 students as well. I spend most of my time on those so called practice paper with them and afterwards, I always ask myself 'have they learnt anything indeed?' . I know whenever I have such skepticism in my mind, I know I am not doing something that I have 100% confidence that is beneficial to my students. Do you feel the same too?
Response from 10401296
I am not a F5 teacher but I agree that time is very limited and doing something interesting in order to arouse their interest is time-consuming. Even though I am just a junior form teacher, there is also a lot pressure when I compare my class' results with other classes'. Striking a balance between these two is really a good method (although I think it is difficult for a new teacher to do it). I believe that practice makes perfect and learning from experience and mistakes. Let's do it together!
Response from 09401490 Sammy
I also admit that using the mixed-teaching pedagogies in our lessons is not easy because it requires a deep understanding of the English proficiency of students in order to tailor-made our own teaching strategy.
Response from 10401199 Echo
I think we all share the same feeling that not only our students are under great pressure because of the public exams but also we teachers do. However, I am quite happy to see here we still have some passionate teachers that want to make a change for our students! I remember your idea of asking students to write in a log book, I think it is a great practice. Yes, we cannot always have interesting things in lessons due to time constraints but I think this kind of care in the chats can also arouse students’ learning interests too!
Response from 10406026 Wing
You stressed "own a language" frequently during presentaation, which is the most impressive moto for me. Under the circumstance of exam-orientation, it is a pity that most of my students do not understand the belief of "own" and they are at the stage of struggling for marks bit by bit. Starting from that presentation, I would motivate myself to cultivate my students to attempt in owning English, as my belief as well.
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7. Hung Po Yan Alyssa
Reflection generated from content shared in Group 2's Major approaches to ELT. I used to have a negative feeling about TBL approach as it is time-consuming to prepare extra teaching materials for each lesson. After realized that there is no single best method, approach or style to teach, I tried to implement TBL approach in my junior class. I was glad that my students expressed positive attitudes about such new learning experience. This encourage me to implement TBL approach in my future English classes.
Response from 10401199 Echo
I think the idea of TBL is good in a sense that we provide students theme-based and contextualized materials to make learning meaningful. Last month, my students had done a TBL project about food and they enjoyed it very much. I believe the negative feeling about this approach is from the time constraint which we have very limited power to change it.
Reflection generated from content shared in Group 4's Learner Autonomy. It is very difficult to develop students' ability to take control over their own learning since they have little motivation to learn English. As a teacher, I have tried everything I could do to help them. However, the result is negative. To develop students autonomy in learning is time-consuming, I will continue to motivate my students by using different teaching approaches and inculcate them that English Language is an interesting subject to learn and they may find it useful one day. I believe that once students are motivated, they will be more willing to learn the language.(reduce the antagonistic feelings towards learning English)
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8.Kwok Chee Ying Henry
i).Reflection generated from content shared in Group 3 's Postmethod
I didn’t know about Postmethod before their presentation. After their presentation, I found it a useful method as it can combine the advantages of various teaching methods. Although it is not an easy method to be adopted, I will try this method to teach my students in the near future.
Response from 10401253 I experience same. I have never heard of postmethod before and it gives a me kick-start on how to incorporate different strategies into the one I am confidence to use in my lesson.
Response from 10401296
I am really happy to hear that you like the postmethod. Actually, I felt really confused about this topic at the beginning. However, after a period of time, I found that it is really useful and cheers up me because I am told that I do not need to fit myself for any approach or method. I am who I am and different teachers have their own personalities and strength. I believe that we are able and have potentials to develop our own teaching style.
i).Reflection generated from content shared in Group 4 's Learner Autonomy
I believe that lack of motivation is the biggest barriers to achieve learner’s autonomy. I teach in a band-three school. Students come to school without purpose, some of them even frequently absent from school for part-time job. Under this situation, it is difficult for me to achieve the autonomy in language learning because language takes time to drill.
Response from 10401245 I had similar experience with you before. For band three it's really really hard to motivate students as they are completely distracted by other problems. Well, take it easy, just try to see and consider learning from their point of view. There's no way to adopt band 1 teaching strategy on them, maybe just teach the things that maybe practical and usable to them, at least, let them have some interesting and achievable activities in lessons.
Response from 10405321 I am also teaching in a band-three school. I totally agree with you that "lack of motivation" is the biggest barriers to achieve learner's autonomy. One of my students mentioned that "Pocket Money" was the reason for him to come to school. His mother won't give him any pocket money if he refuses to go to school. Most of my students are lack of motivation to learn, or even never consider the purpose of their lives. My job is to stimulate them to think and bring them to the right track.
Response from 10401571 You have raised a question that some students come to school without motivation and purpose. Will you consider to teach them some jobs related sentence patterns or vocabulary in order to raise their interests? I think it would be helpful in some way if they find our the linkage between their daily life and English language. I hope my suggestion helps!
Response from 10404090 Teaching in a Band 3 school is totally a challenge. Students don't seem to have any any motivation to learn the language. Some of my students are from China, and they always argued that they could easily find a job in their home cities without having a high level of English standard. In such situation, it's definately difficult to achieve learners' autonomy.
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9. Lam Yan Yin Felix
i).Reflection generated from content shared in Group 3 's Postmethod
Upon reflection, this eclectic approach certainly works. In practice, the teacher would have to be highly aware, and exert extra effort in customizing every thing, from materials to method to contextualization. This is especially important when considering a whole curriculum, or semester, instead of lesson by lesson. Hopefully, the students appreciate all our efforts.
i).Reflection generated from content shared in Group 4 's Learner Autonomy
I share this goal to train students into autonomous learners. The biggest obstacle for me remains their motivation. I feel a deep-rooted notion that they are only in school because they have no choice. Their goal, it seems, is to avoid doing anything until they are allowed to leave school, at which time they will be motivated, but to play.
Response from 10401237 (Edmund) I like your idea of considering the whole curriculum. However, in reality, we can just manage, at most, a few lessons ahead unless we have been teaching the same materials for a few years. I share your goal to get students into autonomous learners. I think this should be the ultimate goal for all teachers ..........
Response from 10401474 I agree with you that applying Postmethod in teaching is not an easy task. Teacher plays an important role throughout the process. Apart from that, cooperations from students are also essential.
Response from 10401245 I agree with you that the biggest obstacle we face is that students' motivation is really low today. Maybe because of their family background or the society's demand has changed. Anyway, some people have said that as a teacher our main target is to teach the average students. The bright kids will do well anyway whereas the worst ones will keep to be the bottom ones. However, the average kids are the ones who really need us as they have the potential to get promoted to a higher place or even going down without our help. Of course, we can't gurantee to help everyone to get straight As, we are just trying to pull the students, especially the majority average ones from behind. Maybe that will make us feel a little better?! =.=
Response from 10401253 Same here, my studets are super inactive in learning but super active in playing! I hope to build up my students' learning autonomy bit by bit through in-class activities and group works which give them abundant freedom to gear themselves to learn what interests them.
Response from 10404090 I agree with you as well. Since I'm teaching in a Band 3 school, most of my students hate learning English and their learning motivation is extremely low. So, what I'm trying to do in my lessons are to use actractive powerpoint slides (although its time-consuming to create the slides), group works and also authentic teaching materials (suits students' needs and interests) to teach the language. So far, I found that such methods do work for my SEN students.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10. Lau Tik Sang Dickson
i.) Reflection generated from content shared in Group 2 's Major approaches to ELT.
TBL can be very interesting for junior forms. Students can learn and apply English other than the traditional direct teaching ways. I've tried TBL in my junior classes. Students are generally motivated as they think the topics are interesting. They can do something that really related to their daily lives. However, it is a bit time-consuming as we have to finish all the teaching under the scheme of work.
ii.) Reflection generated from content shared in Group 4 's Learner Autonomy
I always believe a responsible teacher should not only teach and refer to the textbooks. We should try our best to encourage our students to learn and study by themselves. Being a teacher, we should set a good example for our students. We should be willing to learn and update our knowledge. Moreover, it's essential to reinforce our students during the teaching process. It's an effective way for us to motivate them. Once they are motivated, they may even do more in order to fulfil their strong desire.
Response from 10401199 Echo
I totally agree with your point that teaching is beyond textbooks. It is not difficult to find from the news that students with good academic results cannot survive in the realistic society. Similarly, in English language teaching, a student can remember all the vocabulary in the textbooks does not mean he or she can use the words or even master the language. Therefore, it is important for teachers to encourage students to learn and use the language inside and outside classrooms.
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11.Lee Chi Leung Edmund
i).Reflection generated from content shared in Group 3 's Postmethod
Postmethod is a cocktail approach to address what content delivers in what way in order to meet the needs of different learners. The idea is simple, but yet requires great effort and experience from passionate teachers. Two papers that I read earlier echo with it completely. There is never a one-size-fit-all solution for second language learning and teaching. In fact, the recent development on language teaching is not on using a particular method or approach but a choice in choosing the right combination of methods and approaches for particular learner’s need. Postmethod, I definitely am in. I will try with all the marcostrategies in my teaching from now on.
i).Reflection generated from content shared in Group 4 's Learner Autonomy
I believe the most important element of education is on inspiring our young people to ‘think’. The ultimate thinking young people should consider is about the purpose of their lives. My responsibility is to encourage young people to seek their own life purposes. Lack of life purpose is lack of motivation for seeking knowledge-processing skills. That may be the key reason why there are so many poor academic performances at school. Students have no drive on learning especially on the seemingly-seldomly-used English Language. Poor literacy means poor verbal reasoning and poor critical thinking skills. Without those, students will then make the wrong decisions in life. Therefore, as a teacher, my role is to 'wake them up' and lead them into autonomous learners. My mission is to foster students’ appreciation on the fun of learning. My focus with my students will be mainly on activiating their self-regulated learning and, eventually, into self-directed learning so that they can decide on what they would like to learn on their own.
Response from 10401474 I agree with you that as a role of teacher, we need to inspire students to think critically, motivate them to learn and explore to different kinds of knowledge. From now on, I will encourage students to spend some time i.e. 5 minutes, to have a self reflection in my lesson.
Response from 10401245 I agree with you that we have to motivate students' self-learning, which is our ultimate task in class. But I have to make a confession that sometimes I will forget these high missions and lower my head in front of the scheme of work. I teach form 5 students, you know, I can't really let them 'go' without any training on the four papers.....sigh, reality and mission, we need to fight for a balance.
Response from 10405321 I agree with you that inspiring young people to "think" is the most important element of education. We should be ashamed, if students don't know their own life purposes after secondary school graduation. Most of my students come from low-income group with low self-esteem. Some even label themselves as 'a group of negligent'. We should try our best to encourage and guide them to find their purpose of their lives.
Response from 10401210: "Thinking" is perhaps the mot important outcome of learning. After all, no matter how much they memorize, without a "brain", the information itself is useless.
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12.Lee Sze Ling Sheera
i) Reflection generated from content shared in Group 5 's Teacher Autonomy in Language Education. I am impressed by the sharing of one of the schoolmates where the school offers an exchange programme with students from American students. I think it is a very valuable opportunity for students to apply English in their real lives. Moreover, the out-of-classroom setting encourages Hong Kong students to feel less afraid in using English. My school has similar programme every year but it is carried out in a smaller scale. I could see that most of the students will often try their best to communicate despite of low ability as they enjoy speaking things that are related to themselves instead of solely completing exercises at class. I think the effect is more obvious when comparing to 100% classroom teaching.
ii)Reflection generated from content shared in Group 2 's Major approaches to ELT. I personally enjoy applying TBL in my classroom especially for my junior form classess because it is a new and fun experience for students. It can be seen that most of my students were willing to communicate in English more after implementing this approach in my classroom. However, it sometimes take more time than expected as students progress varies. Also, I have to make sure that I have covered the items required by the scheme of work at the same time. I think it is important for me to try using different approaches in my teaching so as to bring out the best teaching and learning experience to both parties.
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13. Luk Ka Lai
Reflection on Group 2 & 3’s presentation (from 10405240)
Group 2’s presentation helps me know more how students and teachers think about TBL and what difficulties it may bring about when it is implemented. Although there are some limitation when implementing TBL such as large class size, low learning motivation, exam-oriented culture and etc, I still think that as a teaching methodology, TBL and CLT’s effectiveness in teaching and learning can be maximized by suitable adaptation and modification according to the student’s ability and diversity.
Response from 09401482 (Dickson) I've tried to use TBL in junior forms. Students are relatively motivated because of the interesting topics of the task. Moreover, teachers can have more room to prepare more useful materials for the students. However, it can be quite time-consuming.
Group 3’s post-method a methodology of flexibility. It encourages teachers not to be constrained by any single method. As a reflective teacher, it is crucial for one to always reflect on their own teaching and students’ learning and be prepared to use any method that is most effective and modify their teaching in different contexts.
Response to Angel,
It is important for a teacher to have freedom and control over their teaching so that they can modify their teaching material, schedule and methodology according to the students' needs.
Response to Edmund,
I agree that there's never a "one-size-fit-all" methodology for teaching, so it is always possible to combine different approaches in order to cater for learner diversity.
Response to Felix,
I agree that some of the students are keen on playing but not learning. So, the biggest challenge for teachers is to design some activities that allow them to learn English in an interesting and most importantly, effective way.
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14. Ng Hiu Kwan
i).Reflection generated from content shared in Group 4 's Learner Autonomy, I believe teachers still have certain degree of autonomy even it seems that we are bound by many limitations from all sorts of power groups. The concept of autonomy is essential to us as we are the frontlines who understand our students most. We know what they need and students' abilities and therefore we should be able to have a say in what we teach them! Regardless of a tight scheme of work, politcial conflicts in the panel and a packed curriculum, I believe there's still a room for us to decide the way we teach. Well, after all, the success of our job does not depend on how efficient we finish our scheme of work but whether we can motivate our students to be interested in learning the subject we teach....that's a BIG challenge!! =_=
Response from 10401253 I agree with you. I am supposed the one who knows my students' ability and language proficiency most. Like you, I hope I can try my best to squeeze time and resources to teach what is good to my students.
Response from 10401571 I totally agree with you. That's why I said the most important thing isn't challenging our existing English curriculum, but try our best to keep their motivation and passion in English. If their motivation burns out, we can do nothing. So we have to try our best by using all methods to keep their passion burning!
Response from 10401474 Being frontlines is not an easy task. And I am with you that there are many big challenges as you mentioned above. For example, we have to ask students with low motivation to learn with lots of love, concern and patience. It really takes much of our time, effort and energy. Let's strive for the best~
i).Reflection generated from content shared in Group 3 's Postmethod, to me, bascially, postmethod means we teachers have to break down ALL our teaching predagogies in order to build up our own teaching style and philosophy. The PowerPoint reminds me of our schoo's staff development day today. The speaker told us that there is NO particular way to cater learner diversity in classroom. All methods can achieve this purpose, e.g. class size, grouping, feedback, streaming, etc., but the point is are we using the correct method at a correct timing to a correct student. This is exactly what postmethod is about. We have to be flexible in classroom and always ready to adopt new method and changes regardless of failures. I heard a famous quote today which is really inspiring and related to this presentation topic, "If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn." In other words, there is no absolute rule and framework in teaching, we have to apply all the theories we have learnt and try them in class. Don't be rigid and there is NO absolute teaching pedagogy in a class!
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15. Tam Ming Sum Sammy
Reflection generated from content shared in Group 2’s Major approaches to ELT-suitability of TBL in the Hong Kong’s School Contexts. TBL seems to be an effective in ELT but it is opened to be questioned if we discuss the suitability in Hong Kong. This group did demonstrate various constraints on implementing TBL in Hong Kong classroom because of the exam-oriented culture. It is feasible to implement TBL in all Hong Kong English language classroom only if the curriculum and exam-oriented are modified. On top of the exam-oriented culture, I believed that the overreliance on using the textbook to teach is another constraint for English teachers to implement TBL. However, school administrators and parents feel secure and comfortable only if the textbooks are listed on the school book list. The overreliance on using the publishers’ materials does not provide a high authenticity in using and learning the language which is also the deep-rooted problem in Hong Kong context.
Response from 10401210: It is interesting that you bring up the textbooks. It seems many teachers find the textbooks not very useful. but I've also had students tell me they don't like the textbooks. Some of them don't even bring it to class.
Reflection generated from content shared in Group 3 's Postmethod.
I have a positive attitude towards the Postmethod in ELT because there is no one single method to teach English effectively. Therefore, we should incorporate various methods in our lesson so that it can be more interesting. The requirement of mechanical training on public exam is an undeniable fact but we can adapt and adjust our teaching styles so that we can make our lessons to be more interactive in a meaningful context.
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16. Tsang Man Yin Angel
i).Reflection generated from content shared in Group 5 's Learner and Teacher Autonomy in Language Education. One of the presenters mentioned that we should bypass all the constraints in order to promote teacher autonomy. We may need to have freedom from control over our teaching. I am teaching in a band-three school. Luckily, the goal of my school is not focusing on public examination results instead students' self-discipline and development are of the utmost importance. I have the freedom from control over my teaching after I have finished the required scheme of work. I can make use of teacher autonomy to design my lessons. As the majority of the students are come from low-income group with many behaviour problems, I will infiltrate moral education during the English Language lesson. I hope that they will become a responsibile person in the future.
Response from 10406018 This is a very good thing to do. I believe your students will benefit a lot from your lessons! It is true that when we as teachers know that some students are not able to make it to university (I am not saying that they are bad, but we all know by heart the percentage of students getting into university every year, right?), we should help them to stretch their potential, to prepare them as a capable person in going into different ways after they graduate from their secondary education.
Response from 10406026 (Wing) It is an ideal interaction environment if both teachers and students enjoy autonomy in language education. A sharing with a assistant professor in a university: He complained that he had to pacify the students in some extent since students' evaluation at the end of the semester determines if his teaching contract would be extended to next academic year. He reflected that another professor whose style is rather '"commander" since he has had long working experience in an uniform bridage in civil service sector ended up being commented as unfriendly and so he could not secure his teaching post in the university. Evaluation by students is a common practice in the field education and it is an output of students' autonomy, but it in certain extent challenges the teaching methodology adoopted by teachers. Thus, student autonomy does have 2 sides.
ii) Reflection generated from content shared in Group 3's postmethod, it consists of 10 macrostrategies, based on which teachers can design varied and situation-specific microstrategies to effect desired learning outcomes. It signifies a search for an alternative to method rather than an alternative method. In my opinion, no matter whether we are using "postmethod' or any other method in our teaching, understanding our learners and build up good teacher-student relationship are of the utmost importance. There was a case in my school that a class of Secondary 4 students boycotted a Chinese Language teacher and refused to attend the class because of the bad teacher-student relationship.
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17. Tse Pui Yan Penny
i) Reflection generated from content shared in Group 4 's Autonomy in Language Learning. I believe no one would deny that those students who have higher autonomy and motivation in English language learning would do better. After this presentation, I am inspired in several ways. Firstly, the most important thing is not challenging the current English syllabus using in Hong Kong. Indeed, if the learners themselves do have a positive view or value towards English language (i.e. they believe it is highly useful and important in their lifetime, or else), they can still find a lot of interest in their learning under such curriculum. When someone is able to find interest or passion in doing something (having a high intrinsic value), he or she will definitely be highly autonomous in learning the language, regardless of the curriculum and the assessments. Therefore, how to make our students believe that English language is closely related to their daily lives as well as their future career is of utmost important. We should always give them chances to put what they have learnt into real practice.
ii)Reflection generated from content shared in Group 2 's Major approaches to ELT Personally I welcome the implementation of TBL in ELT. However, due to the constrain of time, I cannot afford to spend all my lessons on TBL. Still, I would still strive a balance between TBL and other traditional approaches to ELT. I believe that no single approach is perfect and as a teacher I utilize different approaches in my teaching, as long as they are suitable for my students. TBL can raise students' interest in language learning as this is a brand new experience for them and they have the chance to learn something outside their textbooks. Therefore, I will still implement TBL in my teaching as far as I can.
Response from 09401490 Sammy
I have tried to implement TBL in my junior form class as the flexibility is high in the English Panel. However, so much time was used for the pre-task activities and the interesting level isn't high indeed. Perhaps, I'm green in using TBL so that I don't have a concrete method to raise the interesting level of the lessons. Anyway, I will try to use this pedagogy in my lessons.
Response from 10401520 Sheera
I have taught both junior and senior classes and I think it is more suitable to implement TBL in junior forms rather than senior forms as students at junior forms tend to have lower motivation in learning English. TBL is thus a very good approach to make them engage more at class and arouse their interest in this language that they are afraid of. Moreover, junior forms teachers usually possess higher flexibility in designing their own lessons and they face less pressure in preparing for the public examination so I think it's one of the approaches that my students and I enjoy.
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18. Wong Wing Ka
Reflection generated from content shared in Group 4 and 5 in Language learning
I had an interesting shraing with one of my colleagues lately. We shared how we taught relative clause for form 2 students. My colleages advised me to formularize the steps of applying relative pronoun, i.e. which/ who/ whose, to link 2 sentences. For example, Step 1) Find out the common information of 2 sentences; Step 2) Distinguish the nature of the common information. If it is an object, use "which", if it is a person, use "who"... . After listening to my colleague, I queried if my students would be like a robot and they ended up with no language sense if they learnt English in formulars. The colleague replied "What if they can get no mark at all but they do have a bit language sense? Language sense does not help their test at all." Finally I found that my colleague does strive for putting their students in exam-oriented culture and I did teach my students with the steps that he introduced to me but not that formular in nature.
This inspires me that sometimes students do not understand what language sense is and they prefer marks to enjoying the process of learning.
I would suggest learning autonomy to those students who have ability to manage learning themselves and at least they should attain certain English standard. For students who do not even manage grammar rules, the simpliest like agreement, they prone to strive to get themselves promoted to next year, which is known as the minimum requirement for them, instead of encouraging them to figure out some ways which allow them to learn English comfortably.
reflection generated from content shared in Group 1 in major approaches to ELT.
I would suggest to maxmize the benefits derived from TBL in some education outdoor activities, like museum visit, in which students can move and learn at the same time. Teacher does not have to explain much before the learning activity and the students frame themselves into the learning environment where there are authentic materials automatically. When students learn English by TBL in the classroom, they would rather focus on the supposed classroom activities or exercises and the TBL atmosphere despite deliberately tailor-made by the teacher may not be strong enough to guide them to devote in learning English via TBL.
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19.
Yau Wai Po Ivory
Reflection generated from content shared in Group 4's Autonomy in Language Learning
I got two inspirations from the presentation. The first one is that learners' autonomy is as important as teachers' autonomy. In the past, I always looked down on students' autonmy. But, actually, their homework and content of learning are assigned and decided by teachers and they do not have any freedom and choices. It is raelly hard for them to be motivated in this case. That is one of the reasons why they cannot become independent leaners. The second one is that everyday communication skill is also an important part of langauge teaching. Being a English teacher, I should not just focus on examination but try my best to spend more time on daily communication in English. That can help students a lot in the future.
Response from 10401237 (Edmund) I learnt from EDUC7150 - Critical and creative thinking that creative writing tasks allow students to make their own choice on projects and writing topic. This would raise their intrinsic motivation. I tried and it worked quite well even with the weaker students. Give it a try.
Response from 10401520 Sheera I believe we teachers always want to make sure students have learnt what they need to learn and we are being bounded by this mind set. I agree that communication skills is very crucial in arousing students interest and motivation. I will always try to have more open discussions with my students at class before completing any tasks.
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Reflection generated from content shared in Group 2's Major approaches to ELT
Originally, before attending the presentation, I did not feel good about TBL because of its drawbacks (e.g. it is too time-consuming and it is hard to manage the whole classroom when there is discussion time). However, after the presentation, I think TBL may not be good for teachers but may be quite good for students. At least, stduents' interest can be aroused if the task is interesting enough. Also, it can train up their problem solving skill which is a key in daily life. So, perhaps, in the future, when I get more experience and feel more confident about myself, I will try to spend more time on TBL and hope that my students can benefit a lot from it!
Response from 09401490 Sammy The constraint on implementing TBL in Hong Kong classroom is under the factor of school curriculum and the use of textbook. Actually, both students and teachers feel secure if they have textbooks. Some parents may even force their children to prepare each lesson in advance so that the preparation work on teaching materials should be done earlier. However, the interesting level of the teaching materials may not be high because the adopted authentic materials may be outdated.
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